KASICH VS STRICKLAND

Thanks to the Dayton Daily News (“Ohio State paid Kasich $4,000 per Visit”, Dispatch, Aug. 17) we learn that for nearly seven years, THE  Ohio State  University paid John Kasich $50,000 annually to spend four hours per month with its students.  So by my math, Kasich raked in roughly $350,000 —and was paid nearly $1,400 per hour.  Not a bad gig at a public school.  But while Mr. Kasich is an interesting guy and his lectures were no doubt splendid, how many Ohioans would willingly pay $1,400 an hour to hear him speak?  And whether he was paid with taxpayer money or privately donated “discretionary” funds, Ohio State has ears of tin if it thinks students and parents struggling to pay ever-rising tuition bills will conclude that this was a good idea.  I’m guessing many of them would like to pose the same question to OSU that Jay Leno once famously posed to actor Hugh Grant who was caught in an equally ill-advised dalliance:  “what the hell were you thinking?”

But if Ohio State looks bad, Mr. Kasich looks worse.  As a member of Congress, Kasich repeatedly voted against increasing the minimum wage for working people — but sees nothing wrong with a sinecure for himself that pays $1,400 per hour.  As a gubernatorial candidate, he says colleges must cut costs and professors should work harder — while he happily collected $50,000 per year for teaching four hours per month at the state’s flagship university.  But let’s give Kasich his due. When it comes to hypocrisy, he is Ohio’s undisputed all-time heavy-weight champ.

In his ubiquitous campaign television commercials, Mr. Kasich demagogues the recession and complains that Governor Strickland “hasn’t gotten the jobs done.” Creating jobs, Kasich implies, will be his specialty.  But in his entire adult life, Kasich has yet to create a single job for anyone other than himself.  He has been a state legislator, a Congressman, a Lehman Brothers rain-maker, a Fox News television host, and a, ahem, well-compensated college instructor.  Kasich “gets the jobs done” all right — but only for himself.

Dale Butland, Columbus

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